Quick race report

[Railbird]

Michael wins with honest heat being applied by Alonso.

Rubens third, Montoya fourth

Ralph slides all over hell's half acre to hang on to fifth

CdM sixth

Webber seventh (first points since Australia last year)

Firman gets a point


Kimi hangs on to the points lead after starting line shunt

[cart7]

As has been repeatedly stated in the broadcast's, "If they find 30-50 more hp in that Renault......" :eek: :D

BTW, since they barely showed Juan, was he having as much of a problem as Ralf was at keeping the car pointed in the right direction??

[pchall]

Nice to see CdM bring it home in the points.

[Ziggy]

I enjoyed the race, very much in fact. It seems F1 is doing everything right. I also think that Ferarri is back in front to stay...

Now, for the rest

DaMatta should have been able to set up and pass Ralphieboy. No excues's. At one time he was turning fast laps, then got behind ChinJr. That was it, even with the locking brake problem from the Williams, Chris did not figure out a way around. Not good. Im sure he needed the points, the team needed the results, blahblahblah. If he wants me in his camp, He is going to have to RACE!

Juan, Well, that car dont look to hot. It does have an engine however. He beat his teammate, so that is a plus. Juan and Ralph have to figure out a way to develope this car into a better performer.

Alonzo did a great job. Mike also, but we expect that from him, eh? Rubins also did well, and I must say he comes across as a really nice guy in the interview's.

Ziggy

[Railbird]

oh sure, Ziggy has to come in and spell all the names correctly...;)

[Hot Rod Otis]

I don't know Ziggy, I think you're being a little hard on DaMatta. He needed a decent finish, and sure 5th woulda been nice, but a 6th was good, plus he had solidly outraced Panis. Plus Ralf was driving like a f*^+ing idiot, doing the Schumacher weave all over the track, and woulda probably taken them both out had DaMatta made a serious try.

[Warlock!]

Originally posted by Hot Rod Otis
...I think you're being a little hard on DaMatta.

In my best Butthead voice...

"You think Ziggy's being a little what DaMatta???" Heh, he-heh, he-heh...

Warlock!

[Dr. Corkski]

Considering that during his CART days the only thing da Matta ever passed on the track was gas, it comes as no suprise that he lacks the ability/balls to make a pass on someone with a car that was at least a second slower.

[krunch]

I think people are being unfair on DaMatta.
Ralfy was blocking and chopping big time;Alonso had problems with him too.
If Ralf had put up as much a fight to keep big brother behind this could have been an even more exciting race.

Ralf needs to watch the tape of the first lap to see the subtle art of blocking in it's purest form.
Rubens would have to be the best "number two" driver the world has ever seen!

[Joe in LA]

FWIW, it was a least fun to watch the Ralf/DaMatta battle, and Alonso's break out race was exciting as well. He did seem to catch traffic at exactly the wrong time on every run, and clearly didn't have the horses. What a chassis that car must have.

Ralf looked BAD IMHO. Juan spanked him, and Ralf was all over the place anytime anyone got near him. I thought DaMatta would manage to get him, but he seemed to have a lot of trouble holding his line when he got close to Ralf--the penalty for a very low downforce set up?

[cartmanoz]

My thoughts:

Alonso was brilliant. That Renault sure does handle well and if he had a few more horses, he really could have challenged MS.

MS, though, had it covered though the new Ferrari was not the revolutionary new machine everyone predicted.

Kimi had a weekend to forget. Silly mistake in qualifying and just brainfade at the start caused his accident. Next time, when everyone else goes left, you should also go left Kimi!;)

Williams actually had a decent race despite no-one on the podium. JPM pulled a couple of good moves but other than that was quietly in 4th. Ralf was quick to begin but a moment in the gravel screwed his race completely.

da Matta was a superb 6th while Panis should also have scored.

Webber finally got some well-deserved points but Jaguar need more reliability.

Firman did what was needed to score his first point.

[Kate]

I was at Le Mans when this race was on. They had it on in the media centre. The main concensus was that Alonso's 2nd place was "arranged" as he was a home town boy (Michael Must Win Rule precluded his getting an actual win). The Swiss media were cheering loudly whenever anything went wrong with Mercedes, especially DC.

I went down to take photos in the garages and see if I could find Ant Davidson for a quick word -- he was on track though -- and found that although their cars were actually turning hot laps on the track, the Risi Competizione Ferrari and Prodrive garages were virtually inattentive as they all clustered around their tv sets to watch the cootie racing in Spain!

Finally, at a press conference at Brands, Damon Hill was asked what he thought of modern F1 and he said "I have to say that for the last two years if I hadn't been paid to watch it, I wouldn't have bothered. Formula One is no longer interesting except for qualifying under the new format, which at least mixes up the field."